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During the American Revolution, agriculture proved essential in keeping both armies fighting. Farmers responded to war by increasing their production of cattle, fruit, and crops. A female labor force filled roles previously occupied by men. Shortages usually came about as a result of troop movements and transportation problems rather than agricultural shortfalls. Both sides drew on the lofty image of owning one’s own farm to recruit men for war duties, offering acres of land to those who volunteered. » Read more…

The first European farmers drew on indigenous wisdom in order to survive. Prepared for gold-searching rather than subsistence farming, early residents of Jamestown, Virginia, relied on local Indian knowledge of planting to circumvent starvation. Settlers learned how to cultivate corn and tobacco. The pilgrims of the fledgling Plymouth Colony similarly discovered the wonders of maize. As the Massachusetts Bay Colony expanded, pioneers introduced cows, horses, and sheep to the eastern landscape. With few sheds and little fencing, livestock initially ran wild. Most early colonists were city gentry, religious dissenters, » Read more…

The decreased role of agriculture in American life at the beginning of the twenty-first century masks the extent to which farming has often shaped the national experience. Agriculture, at the very least, features an impressively lengthy heritage. The first American farmers were Native Americans who cultivated indigenous and Mesoamerican plants in excess of seven thousand years ago. Amer Indian agriculture evolved according to environmental, technological, and cultural imperatives. In the South, river valleys and floodplains attracted early farming endeavors. Squash was planted in the Lower Tennessee River valley over four thousand years ago. In sub-sequent years, southern tribes developed sophisticated intercropping skills based around complementing one crop with another. Beans and corn proved an ideal mix, beans providing valuable soil nutrients (such as nitrogen) required by corn, while cornstalks served as convenient climbing vehicles for beans. » Read more…

The Hebrew patriarchs owned large flocks of sheep and goats, but they were not fully nomadic because they did sow seasonally, sometimes with success (Isaac at Gerar, Gen 26:6, 12). Genuine camel nomadism appears in the 13th-11th centuries B.C., with peoples such as the Midianites. From the clash between an agricultural urban society and immigrant semi-nomadic landless groups (15th-13th centuries B.C.), the Hebrews emerged as the dominant force. With improved security in the later royal period (9th-6th centuries B.C.) livestock were kept outside and the towns became the centers of agricultural industries. Settlement was within the framework of the tribe; later the kinship bore responsibility for keeping the family lots within the group. Villages with large scale terrace systems in the highlands began developing in the 8th century B.C., with smaller farm units as well (e.g. Khirbet er-Ras near Jerusalem), with consequent improved facilities for plowing and cultivation. A 10th century B.C. agricultural calendar found at Gezer regulated a mixed-farming pattern, composed of early and later-sown cereals, flax, olives, vines and undefined summer crops. Plant finds from Lachish in the Early Iron Age comprised olives, grapes, wheat, barley and other cereals and pulses. A large scale oil industry was developed by the Phillistines in the Shephela region, with one centre situated at Ekron. » Read more…

Is not a concept the Supreme Court uses to decide cases. Rather, agriculture is a context from which cases arise. From 1790 to 1860, through disputes involving agricultural lands, the Court rendered decisions establishing the sovereignty (Fremont v. United States, 1854) and private ownership of the American land base (United States v. Noe, 1859). Litigation between inventors of agricultural implements gave rise to early interpretations of the Constitution’s patents clause (Seymour v. McCormick, 1854). » Read more…

The art and science of crop and livestock production. In its broadest sense, agriculture comprises the entire range of technologies associated with the production of useful products from plants and animals, including soil cultivation, crop and livestock management, and the activities of processing and marketing. The term agribusiness has been coined to include all the technologies that mesh in the total inputs and outputs of the farming sector. In this light, agriculture encompasses the whole range of economic activities involved in manufacturing and distributing the industrial inputs used in farming; the farm production of crops, animals, and animal products; the processing of these materials into finished products; and the provision of products at a time and place demanded by consumers. » Read more…

Agriculture Leader Technology, Inc., has announced the fall release of SMS Mobile PC — a new way to utilize SMS Mobile software. The software product enables the support of SMS Mobile for portable PC devices, including netbooks, tablets and laptop computers; the product can be utilized on any device running a Windows operating system — XP, Vista, or Windows 7.

SMS Mobile PC offers another way for growers to collect information in the field that can flow between their mobile device and their SMS desktop software. Utilizing SMS Mobile on a netbook, tablet or laptop gives users the ability to see more information on one screen. » Read more…

A single spray of GA3 at the concentrations of 0, 25, 50 and 75 ppm was applied to flowers of
lime cv. Pan at three different stages: pre-bloom, full bloom and post-bloom. After spraying for 21 days,
the results showed that GA3 could increase the fruit setting percentage along with its increasing
concentrations with the highest fruit setting percentage of 79.3% at 75 ppm while the untreated control
had only 30.1% fruit set. The pattern of fruit growth was a simple sigmoid curve. Fruit weight and width
of lime increased with increasing GA3 concentrations at all three stages. Flowers treated with 75 ppm
GA3 at post-bloom obtained the highest fruit weight and width of 44.7 g and 4.5 cm, respectively. » Read more…

(Syzygium samarangense (Blume) Merr. & Perry) cv. Thabthimchan
A study on fruit quality of nonbagged and bagged with 6 bagging materials of java apple fruits
(Syzygium samarangense (Blume) Merr. & Perry) cv. Thabthimchan was conducted at Department of
Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture at Kamphaeng Saen, Kasetsart University, Kamphaeng Saen
campus, Nakhon Pathom province from November to December 2004. The bagging materials included
polyethylene (white and blue color), white paper (uncoated paper type), kraft paper, aluminum foil and
polystyrene foam. Bagged fruits showed significant difference in fruit width and length when compared
with nonbagged. Bagging with white paper (uncoated paper type) resulted in the highest fruit width
while the highest fruit length was found in polyethylene (blue color) bagging. Fruit bagging decreased
the defects caused by insects, sunburn, physical injury and increased flavor. » Read more…

Seven mutant and three wild type strains of Trichoderma harzianum were tested for
their efficacy to inhibit and overgrow mycelia of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, a causal agent
of anthracnose of mango on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at room temperature. The results snowed
that they effectively inhibited and overgrew mycelia of C. gloeosporioides, especially two mutant
strains, T-35-co4 and T-35-co5, gave exceptionally percentages of mycelial growth inhibition at 92.0
and 90.5 respectively, while the other two mutant strains, T-50-co4 and T-50-co5, overgrew mycelia of
the pathogen by 69.5 and 67.5%, respectively. Through the use of dialysis membrane technique,
four mutant strains, T-35-co4, T-35-co5, T-50-co4 and T-50-co5, produced antifungal secondary
metabolites which completely inhibited mycelial growth of the pathogen. » Read more…